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I’m going to attempt a synthesis here, stated concisely. Simply put, this discussion on Nouvelle Theologie and Sacramentalism can be understood one of two ways:

a) a return to superstition

b) a recovery of imagination, meaning, the reality of the divine, and the over-used word, mystery

Despite my stated qualms, I’ve said that the debate is helpful. Here’s how:

You climb into the warm recliner, sitting across from a man with a pad. You pour out your gut-feelings, the angst, while he scribbles away furiously. He asks you about your mother, and you talk about your childhood. After an hour of listening he begins to repeat back to you what you have said, weaving a tapestry of insightful council of how repressed desires have finally made their way into aberrant behavior; the prescription? A talking cure, and the need to re-assess your formation as an adult in light of your past. You might need some medication. You thank your pastor on the way out.

So my question is: is this distinctly pastoral ministry?

The appropriation of secular methodology has essentially sent the message that we’ve lost faith in the mediating symbols of the Church to affect grace, comfort, healing. For what is distinctly pastoral: to offer psychological advice (for which we are not trained), or to draw back upon the counselee’s union w/ Christ via baptism? To come back to the place where the congregant finds his / her belonging to God via sacramental union – in other words, Communion? (I’m taking Purves‘ lead here – and I think he’s dead-on).

Another application: how can we talk about God’s design in a parishioner’s life when there is no overall design? In a word, “Providence” is crippled when the universe is emptied of mystical significance. From where I stand, that is one of the most important concepts in a pastor’s toolbox; we have to believe there is meaning to what happens in people’s lives.

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